Nobody ever rings a bell at the top. That’s why sometimes it is instructive to keep an eye on so-called “smart-money”—especially when they make a move towards the door.
All of which, strikes me as curious since just a few months ago the grandfatherly Buffett said, “I am a huge bull on this country. We are not going to have a double-dip recession at all. I see our businesses coming back across the board.”
Hmmmm…I wonder if he has changed his mind on this one.
From Bloomberg by Andrew Frye entitled: Berkshire Exits BofA ‘a Loser’ on Three-Year Holding.
“Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold its stake in Bank of America Corp., ending an investment that spanned three and a half years in which the lender’s stock lost more than two-thirds of its value
Buffett’s firm had no shares in the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank at the end of 2010, compared with 5 million shares three months earlier, Berkshire said late yesterday in a regulatory filing that lists the company’s U.S. stockholdings.
Berkshire, where Buffett serves as chief executive officer and head of investments, entered the Bank of America stake with the purchase of 8.7 million shares in the second quarter of 2007. The lender’s CEO at the time, Kenneth Lewis, was expanding through acquisitions and telling investors that the U.S. housing slump would be over within months.
“He’s closing out a loser,” said Jeff Matthews, author of “Pilgrimage to Warren Buffett’s Omaha,” whose Ram Partners LP invests in Berkshire and Bank of America. “We bought it during the crisis. But its earnings power coming out the crisis has been reduced.”
Berkshire also eliminated its stakes in Nike Inc., Comcast Corp., Nalco Holding Co., Fiserv Inc., Lowe’s Cos. and Becton, Dickinson & Co. in the fourth quarter. In November, Berkshire disclosed that it had sold holdings of Home Depot Inc., trash hauler Republic Services Inc. and Iron Mounta”in Inc., a provider of records management.
Buffett’s U.S. portfolio had 25 stocks and a value of about $52.6 billion at the end of December.”
Maybe there is nothing to see here, but I don’t think so. You just can’t trust a guy that plays a ukulele.
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